Legend Of The Fall

The Washington State Court of Appeals has held that emotional distress damages are available for the pain caused by the death of Brad Pitt (the horse)

Rebecca Thorley and Monica Baxter sue Donald Nowlin as a result of the sale and subsequent death of stallion Brad Pitt. Brad Pitt died while being boarded by Nowlin and after Nowlin’s sale of the horse to Thorley and Baxter. In this interlocutory review, we hold that a claimant may recover emotional distress damages under RCW 4.24.320, the theft of livestock act (TOLA), but rule that a claimant cannot recover for emotional distress under a claim for breach of contract or bailment. We also rule that Washington Constitution, article I, section 21 guarantees a jury trial for a party to a private action for damages under the Consumer Protection Act (CPA), ch. 19.86 RCW.

Plaintiffs

Appellants Rebecca Thorley and Monica Baxter befriended one another because of a common devotion to animal rights. Thorley spent years of her life protesting the live animal export trade in the United Kingdom. Baxter has rescued thoroughbred horses and educated the public about slaughter-bound horses.

Defendant

Donald Nowlin maintained a feedlot in Sunnyside, where he kept and sold horses. Some of the horses he sold for slaughter. According to Nowlin, a feedlot serves as the last stop before the slaughterhouse for old, untrained, lame, unwanted, or problematic horses whose owners no longer wish to care for them. One horse present on the premises was an old former thoroughbred stud, later named Brad Pitt, that Nowlin purchased, on May 26, 2016, at a public auction after no one else bid on him. Nowlin priced the stallion at $250 based on its meat value and the feed and shipping costs he had incurred. 

Brad Pitt

The twenty-year-old stallion, who Rebecca Thorley and Monica Baxter named “Brad Pitt,” caught the two women’s attention. Clerk’s Papers (CP) at 82. According to Thorley and Baxter, Donald Nowlin informed them that he deemed the stallion the “mascot” of his feedlot. CP at 3. He intended to donate Brad Pitt to the adjoining Mexican rodeo for an event called “smoking.” CP at 3. During a smoking, cowboys load horses into a chute and force the horses from the chute with their legs tied together. The activity causes the horses to stumble, which some observers deem funny. Nowlin denies telling the two women that he intended to loan the horse for a rodeo.

They bought him but he died while still with the defendant

Rebecca Thorley and Monica Baxter insist that Donald Nowlin did not inform them of any injury to Brad Pitt before Nowlin killed the stallion. Nowlin did not ask permission for the purported euthanasia.

On September 8, Monica Baxter and Rebecca Thorley journeyed to Donald Nowlin’s feedlot to retrieve Brad Pitt’s corpse. According to Nowlin, the two women then asked to trade a donkey for Brad Pitt. Nowlin did not suggest that he told the women that the ownership of Brad Pitt had reverted to him because of the passage of thirty days. Nowlin operated a forklift to lift Brad Pitt’s body, and he deposited the body into a van. Nowlin testified to the difficulty in loading and moving a bloated and ballooned 1,000-pound horse. According to Nowlin, he did not charge the ladies for boarding Brad Pitt, and the two thanked him for his generosity.

Rebecca Thorley and Monica Baxter’s hired veterinarians Victoria Smith and Sean Tuley to examine the corpus of Brad Pitt. Both veterinarians submitted declarations in opposition to a summary judgment motion brought by Donald Nowlin.

The cause of death is disputed in the litigation.

Donald Nowlin denies causing any injury to Brad Pitt or injecting him with any euthanistic medications. Nowlin testified that, weeks before the death, he orally administered butte, a pain reliever, and penicillin, through an injection, for Brad Pitt’s bad leg. He denied administering other drugs to the horse. According to Nowlin, Brad Pitt suffered the injury to the leg when he and another horse fought. Nowlin speculated that an “unknown perpetrator” stealthily entered the feedlot and took Brad Pitt to the rodeo.

Emotional distress damages

Donald Nowlin characterizes Brad Pitt’s death as a mercy euthanasia of an already injured and unavoidably dying, ungelded and unwanted, ancient stallion. Nowlin emphasizes that Rebecca Thorley and Monica Baxter could not have bonded with Brad Pitt because they only saw him from a distance for a half hour and left him at the feedlot. Thorley and Baxter’s facts, including expert opinions, conflict with Nowlin’s portrayal. Since the superior court dismissed the claim for emotional distress recovery on summary judgment, we view the facts in the light favorable to Thorley and Baxter.

At issue

Donald Nowlin also highlights that Monica Thorley and Rebecca Baxter intended to euthanize Brad Pitt. Assuming such to be true, the two intended to humanely end Brad Pitt’s life, not brutally kill him for the entertainment of human beings as supported by some of Thorley and Baxter’s testimony.

Holding

We reverse the superior court’s summary judgment order that denies Rebecca Thorley and Monica Baxter recovery for emotional distress damages for their cause of action for a violation of the TOLA. We also rule that Thorley and Baxter may recover emotional distress damages for their conversion claim. Finally, we also reverse the superior court’s order denying a jury trial for Thorley and Baxter’s claim for damages under the CPA. We remand to the superior court for further action consistent with this opinion.

(Mike Frisch)